Love grows slowly
by Lilac-Beauty
Summary: My first one-shot! Rated T for attempted suicide! Cam&Claire. Now here is a tale I will tell, about a rose, a spell and unrequited love.


**My very first one-shot. I am so excited! I found this piece of work while I was cleaning my room and thought it would be perfect!**

**A/N: Slightly AU**

**I do not own The Clique...just the plot.**

**One-shot**

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_A rose sits in a flower bed, its petals still un-opened._

_Its companions have all blossomed and plucked out of the beds by couples in love. The unblossomed red rose remains there, unnoticed by all._

_Now here's a story I'll tell about this abandoned rose. It has been around for centuries and was placed under a spell. Inside the petals lies a capsule with a gold pin inside. It is to be opened by only the strongest of love. This gold pin, the spell says, is to transform into a ring with an infinite insignia in the stone._

_Now in this day and age, strong love is hard to find...the keep._

_Meet Claire; a woman at the age of twenty-two. She is a beautiful woman with light blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a fair complexion. You would guess that she'd have a flock of men after her. Wrong! Claire is the kind of girl, albeit, rare, that wants true love. Yet, she's stuck in college life and one her own when her other friends go out to party. Sad...but true._

_Meet Cam, a young man of twenty-four. He's a stud with pitch black hair, steel-blue and green eyes and a tan complexion. He's the opposite of Claire. He thinks that true love is for crazy people. He doesn't believe that it exists. Love at first sight is nothing but a big fat joke to him. So because of that belief, Cam is with a new girl every week and he parties hard._

_Claire and Cam go to the same college, so it only became a matter of time until fate brought them together in the form of a class project. She was reluctant. He was cocky and willing. Claire bites her tongue while Cam keeps attempting to charm her...failing miserably. She smirks at his failed charms. He frowns and helps out with the project._

_They see each other again after that, time and time again. In the hallways, in the parking lot, on campus, by the flower bed where the unblossomed rose sits inside. He is still cocky and arrogant; she is still patient and kind. It puzzles Cam._

_"How can she resist me, but still be such a nice person?" He wonders._

_He needs to find out more. She is the only woman ever to resist his charms._

_In an attempt to find out, Cam approaches Claire after school by the flower bed and questions her behaviour to him._

_Her only reply: "Someone has to have the decency to keep kindness alive in this school filled with sin."_

_She walks off, leaving him to stand alone. The rose cracks open a bit, revealing its beauty inside._

_A month goes by when fate brings them back together for a committee. They are paired up for the competitions for their sororities against another college. He refuses to be part of the assembling for the maze that they are to do. She sighs and goes to set it up on her own. She heads over to an area close to the flower bed._

_She climbs a tree to put up decorations. He watches from afar, still trying to decide if he should help or not. Then he sees it happen. She teeters in the tree and he's there to catch her once she falls. Claire is flustered as she feels herself land in his strong arms. Beneath them, the rose cracks open up a bit more but is still unnoticed._

_Another month goes by and this time, Cam is the one to open up his eyes a bit to this strange girl. He has kept his eye on Claire, watching her help others in need. Claire is the one that her friends go to when they need something._

_"Doesn't she ever need anything?" Cam asks himself._

_She seems like a strong, capable woman. It's after school when he watches something that brings a strange feeling to his heart. Claires' friends come up to her, looking angry about something. They argue and the leader of the girls slaps Claires' textbooks to the ground and stomps on them. They turn to leave. Claire calls to them. The leader turns around and Cam hears her scream:_

_"We are done being friends with you!"_

_Claire is left alone. She sits down on the flower bed bench made of stone. Feeling concerned, Cam approaches, sits down and pulls another lame pick-up line. He pretends that he hadn't seen what happened between Claire and her friends. Claire smirks, but doesn't laugh at his pick-up line. He asks what's wrong. She says nothing. He doesn't know how to reply since he already saw what happened. And then, he remembers the words she told him a month or so ago._

_"Someone has to have the decency to keep kindness alive in this school filled with sin. You've started to show me that. I want you to know that it is starting to make a difference in my life," He tells her._

_The rose cracks open again, the petals starting to push through._

_"Thank-you," Claire says._

_She gets up to grab her books and she goes to head home. Cam gets an eerie feeling about Claire, one he feels uncomfortable with. Why is he getting this feeling of impending doom? He gets to his feet and follows after her, making sure that she is okay. She starts her drive home and Cam holds back a few seconds, debating whether to go or not. He finally gets on his motorcycle and follows after her. Cam comes to the ghetto side of town and quickly assumes that he took a wrong turn. _

_Seeing her car in the drive-way of a run-down home, Cam feels his heart sink. Claire is poor._

_Cam sits for a moment, pondering to go home or not. The terrible feeling sits in the pit of his stomach. He can't ignore it anymore so he turns off his motorcycle, dismounts and heads up to her door. He knocks twice. No answer. The feeling gets worse and Cam now knows that something is terribly wrong. He heads inside, cautious as to where to go. He hears choked sobs and he follows._

_Claire climbs onto a chair at that moment. Her momentum creates a breeze that blows a piece of paper off her desk and it lands outside her door as Cam approaches. Curious, he picks up the paper and reads it._

**_"No one cares about me. My father abandoned me, my mother abuses me. My brother is dead and now all my friends have left me. What's the point in trying to love people when they don't love me back?"_**

_Cam drops the note and bursts into Claires' room just as she kicks the chair away from her._

_"NO!" Cam cries._

_Fate steps in. _

_The rope snaps under her weight, dropping Claire. Cam catches her and lowers the fragile girl to the floor. Claire clings to him, crying hysterically into his shoulder. Normally, Cam would cringe if someone ruined his designer shirt, but he could care less now. Right now, he cares only for the girl in his arms; the girl who he thought was capable of taking care of herself. He holds on tightly, afraid to let go._

_After her crying ceases, Claire looks up to see him there. She's too tired to smile, too tired to thank him. She leans up ever so slightly and lightly kisses his cheek before she rests her eyelids. Cam feels something tug at his heart-strings as he feels the lingering touch of her lips on his stubbly jaw. He scoops her up into his arms and lays her gently onto her bed. _

_He turns to leave, then turns back around to lay her blanket on top of her. He grabs the broken rope, chair and he leaves._

_It isn't until the next week when the two see each other again. They meet by the flower bed where the rose sits, almost in full bloom. Claire looks down, almost ashamed to look at him. Cam feels awkward, not knowing how to tell her how he feels. He's changed so much since they first met. He has real feelings for her...something he didn't have with any other girl. They look up at each other and Cam is the first one to speak._

_"You opened my eyes to what love should be. Love is patient and kind. I've never heard you yell at me or your friends. I've always seen you do good kind things for others," Cam explains._

_Claire nods and finally looks up at him._

_"You came to me every day when I was feeling down. Your lame attempts to charm me made my days brighter," She says._

_The two stare at each other for a second, reminiscing the months that flew by up until this moment. They both discovered what they were both looking for or had come to look for. Cam is the first to speak again...words he never meant to any other girl he has known._

_"I love you."_

_Claire looks at him, a smile on her face._

_"I love you, too."_

_He gently grabs her waist, pulling her close to him until their lips carefully touch. Claire is stiff for a moment until she sinks into his warm embrace. The rose in the bed blossoms to its full potential, revealing the gold capsule inside. After they break the kiss, Cam and Claire smile. Cam looks down and notices the rose. He plucks it out of the bed and holds it out to her._

_Noticing the capsule, Claire takes it out of the rose. It glows...revealing the infinity ring._

_"What the...?" Claire cries._

_Cam smiles, takes the ring and places it on her right ring finger._

_"Will you marry me?" I promise that I will always care for you," Cam asks._

_Claire looks up at him, tears of joy streaming down her face._

_She no longer needs to hide her feelings. She knows now that she will have someone to take her though life in peace and safety. Cam had helped her with that for a while now, and she wouldn't want it any other way._

_"Yes. I will marry you. I promise that I will care for you also," She replies._

_Smiling, Cam leans in to kiss her again and as they embrace, the ring on Claires' finger glows a golden sparkly color and engulfs the two. It creates the symbol of infinity, and the two hear a gentle whisper in the air surrounding them._

_"Love is patient, love is kind. Love is trust and love is strength."_

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**Well...how did I do?**

**Reviews would be lovely :)**


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